When the Legends Die (SparkNotes Literature Guide)

By SparkNotes

When the Legends Die (SparkNotes Literature Guide) by Hal Borland
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• Language: English
• Publisher: SparkNotes
• Release date: Aug 12, 2014
• ISBN: 9781411478299

Book preview

Cover of SparkNotes Guide to When the Legends Die by SparkNotes Editors

When the Legends Die

Hal Borland

© 2003, 2007 by Spark Publishing

This Spark Publishing edition 2014 by SparkNotes LLC, an Affiliate of Barnes & Noble

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Contents

Context

Plot Overview

Character List

Analysis of Major Characters

Themes, Motifs, and Symbols

Part I: Bessie: Chapters 1-3

Part I: Bessie: Chapters 4-6

Part I: Bessie: Chapters 7-9

Part I: Bessie: Chapters 10-12

Part II: The School: Chapters 13-15

Part II: The School: Chapters 16-18

Part II: The School: Chapters 19-21

Part III: The Arena: Chapters 22-24

Part III: The Arena: Chapters 25-27

Part III: The Arena: Chapters 28-30

Part III: The Arena: Chapters 31-33

Part III: The Arena: Chapters 34-36

Part III: The Arena: Chapters 37-39

Part III: The Arena: Chapters 40-41 Part IV: The Mountains: Chapter 42

Part IV: The Mountains: Chapters 43-45

Part IV: The Mountains: Chapters 46-49

Important Quotations Explained

Key Facts

Study Questions and Essay Topics

Review & Resources

Context

Hal Borland was born on May 14, 1900, in Sterling, Nebraska to painter and editor William Arthur and Sarah Clinaburg Borland. At the age of five, Borland moved to Colorado with his family in order to live in closer proximity to the natural environment. Borland became aware of the Ute Native Americans as a result of the tribe's location in Colorado. Borland grew up with an acute familiarity with the outdoors. His experiences in taming broncos have contributed to his depictions of the sport in When the Legends Die. In 1918, Borland attended the University of Colorado for two years before transferring to Columbia University, where he graduated from the School of Journalism in 1923. After serving in the Naval Reserve, he worked in several aspects of the publishing industry, including copy reading, editing, editorial writing, and publicity writing. From 1937–1943, he specialized in nature writing as a staff writer for The New York Times. He also worked as a reporter and a journalist. Borland soon began his literary career with two young adult works of fiction, Valor: The Story of a Dog (1934) and Wapiti Pete: The Story of an Elk (1938). For nearly twenty years, Borland worked as a freelance writer, producing poetry, documentaries, essays, Native American folklore, and two autobiographical works, High, Wide, and Lonesome (1956) and This Hill, This Valley (1957).

Borland began to focus on fiction writing in the 1960s, publishing his first adult novel, The Seventh Winter, in the first year of the decade. Two years later, he published another juvenile novel, The Youngest Shepherd. Borland published his most famous work, When the Legends Die, in 1963. The novel was later adapted to the big screen and translated into nine languages.

Given his background in journalism, Borland also continued to express interest in non-fiction writing, completing Beyond Your Doorstep: A Handbook to the Country in 1962. He also released a collection of his editorials and essays, Sundial of the Seasons, in 1964, followed by a second volume, An American Year, in 1973. Borland died on February 22, 1978, in Sharon, Connecticut, where he had lived on a 300-acre farm with his wife, Barbara Ross Dodge. His farm had been the site of an old Native American village on the Housatonic River many years previous to his residence there.

Borland presents his readers with a remarkably sensitive and insightful portrayal of Native American life in twentieth-century United States. He seems to understand their profound connection to the natural world and their sense of loss at the dissolution of culture and traditions. In When the Legends Die, Borland repeatedly emphasizes the importance of the concept of roundness, or the continuity and eternity of old ways, in Ute culture. He recognizes the threat modern American society presents to this continuity.

Borland has made important contributions to the literary world. He is most remembered for his ability to paint vivid pictures of specific geographical areas, through dialect and in-depth visual description. This local color plays prominently in When the Legends Die, which takes place in the southwestern United States.

Plot Overview

When the Legends Die traces the life path of the novel's protagonist Thomas Black Bull, a Native American Ute from Southwestern Colorado. As a young boy, Tom lives with his mother Bessie and his father George Black Bull in Pagosa. However, when George Black Bull kills Frank No Deer for having repeatedly stolen money from him, the family must flee the town. Returning to the wilderness, they live happily in the old Ute way. One winter day, an avalanche kills Tom's father as he hunts in a valley. Tom adopts the name Bear's Brother, as well as the role of the man of the family. When Bessie returns to Pagosa to visit the general store, she learns that her husband's name has been cleared but still hesitates to move back into town. The following winter, Bessie becomes ill and dies. Living alone in the wilderness, Tom befriends many animals and becomes particularly close to a bear cub whom he considers his closest friend and his brother.

When another Ute, Blue Elk, approaches Tom, allegedly to encourage him to spread knowledge of the old Ute ways to the townspeople of Pagosa, Tom agrees to travel there. His bear accompanies him on his journey. However, Blue Elk forces Tom to attend the local reservation school, where Tom becomes angry and depressed, and where the teachers chain the bear to a fence. Blue Elk soon tricks Tom into believing he will be released, but they journey into the mountains solely to release the bear. After numerous unappealing classes and jobs, Tom meets a man named Red Dillon during a trip to the town of Bayfield. Red, impressed with Tom's ability to ride a wild bronco, convinces him to return to his ranch with him to better his riding skills.

After some training at Red's ranch, Tom and Red travel to countless rodeo competitions, at which Tom demonstrates his skill. But, Tom must obey Red's instructions to ride in a way that will benefit Red's betting efforts. Over the years, Tom becomes increasingly frustrated with Red's control over him, as well as Red's drunken and obnoxious behavior, and soon Tom asserts his independence from Red. After his competition has finished, Tom drives Red back to his ranch. In the fall Red wants to take a trip with Tom, but Tom refuses to accompany him; nonetheless, Red soon departs. A stranger comes to